42 killed in troubled east DR Congo

At least 42 civilians have been killed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official said on Sunday, in what the government described as a massacre in revenge for military operations in the area.
Three days of national mourning have been declared following Saturday night’s mass killing, the latest in a series of massacres that have left more than 600 people dead in and around the troubled town of Beni since 2014.
Speaking to a local radio station, Beni mayor Edmond Masumbuko said 42 people had been killed. The government had earlier put the death toll at 36.
Army spokesperson Mak Hazukay said the attack was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a partly Islamist armed group of Ugandan origin.
The group has been present in DR Congo for more than two decades and is accused of copious human rights abuses.
Hazukay said the ADF rebels had “bypassed” army positions “to come and massacre the population in revenge” for military operations in the area.
The victims were found in Rwangoma, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Beni, according to government spokesperson Lambert Mende.
Mende said the government has previously sought to “alert the world to the jihadist threat” in DR Congo, adding: “In our country, the armed forces of the DRC are alone in the face of the indifference of the international community”.